"Don't ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
Howard Thurman

Some of my resent projects and activities:

Seven hours workshop of sharing life stories for "Ma'agalim-Halakat" ("circles")
dialogue group in Jaffa, July 2011

Leading a workshop of Sharing life stories as a way to build trust and relationships
in a conference on Integration of Immigrants, Morocco June 2011

"Elad Vazana led a powerful and participatory workshop on how to convert imagined enemies into friends through sharing life stories. Elad, an Israeli Jew of Moroccan descent, did a masterful job of creating a safe space for people to share stories in ways that created openings where before only walls might have existed." Charles Gibbs - URI's founding Executive Director

Through creativity - Leading a workshop for Hebrew speakers who want to learn Arabic with Arabic speakers who wants to learn Hebrew (The project was initiated be special young activists)

Life story evening in Ofakim - the small town where i was born

Creativity and Life story sharing weekend2 days of Life stories sharing, highking, creating together, art and more.. by the dead sea

2004 – 2008 Sulha Peace Project - training and definition of management, leadership and discussion director teams, program and content development and management, consulting for organsiational development and human resources.

2007 The OpenNursery School in Shoresh – Head instructor for children, ages 3-4.

2006 Desert Generation for Social and Environmental Initiative in the Negev – Producing and directing seminars for young leadership, developing social and environmental initiatives in the Bedouin communities of the Negev. Providing guidance towards defining a vision and training, selecting members of the instruction teams.

2005 Youth Leading Change for Equal Opportunities and Social Justice – Heading group discussions for youth in the process of developing individual identity and gender awareness.

As a independent i worked and volunteered with :ArtsBridge, CRDC, Neve shalom - Oasis of Peace, The Israeli – Palestinian Peace NGO forum, Arava institute, Sulha Peace Project, JDC Israel, The Center for educational Technology, Eco ME, Gevim Mediation Center, Radio All for peace, JustVision, Dor Hamidbar – Social and environmental Initiatives, Living Room Dialogue, Ministry of education, All for Peace Radio and more..

Caza de Poros, Granada, Spain – Reflexology, Group Dynamics and Social Activities Leadership.

– 2000 Adama Dance Group – Modern Dance and Movement.

TelAvivCollege – Multimedia Creation and Editing.

University of California, Berkeley, San Fransisco – Interior Design and Furnishing.

General:

Tour guid - Conflict and Dialogue in the holy land
Member of the Board of “Vision of the Heart” organization.
Member of the representative forum of peace organisations.
Volunteer driving of Palestinian children in need of medical treatment in Israel.
Artistic sculpting in stone and wood, oil and acrylic painting, guitar playing.
Participation in dozens of dialog groups between Israelis and Palestinians.
Voluntary support and accompanying of social and environmental initiatives.

Languages:Hebrew – Mother tongue.English– Good.Spanish– Good.Arabic – Good communication.Portuguese– Good communication . "Elad Vazana is one of the most effective yet humble peacebuilding practitioners in Israel. He has a natural talent for relationship building, for reflecting his outer work with people all of the inner work that he is always doing to make himself a more effective agent of change." - Scott Cooper, Managing Director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution.

SproutsNourishing and Nice - When so many people do not have food or the means to feed their families, there is a way that will enable each and every person to nourish their families easily and plentifully. more informationVideos : How are sprouts made?

"An enemy is one whose story we have not heard." -- Ms. Gene Knudsen Hoffman

Life Stories to Build Community

Life stories humanize "newcomers" and "others" in our neighborhood.
Hearing personal narratives of our diverse backgrounds brings us closer together.
Listening and being truly heard is one of the great acts of welcoming and community building.
This new quality of communication awakens empathy and trust in the listener.
It heals the story teller.
It dignifies both.
The Experience (2 hours)1. Opening context (three minutes)2. Who is in the room? (5-15 minutes) A. Brief introductions (name, home town, why you chose this workshop, all in "one breath.")
3. Experience in pairs for everyone. (8 minutes) A. Three (3) minutes
i. Turn to your neighbor
ii. In one minute each, remember an uncomfortable situation where another person unexpectedly helped you feel welcomed.
B. Five (5) minutes to assimilate, hearing several participants telling their partners' stories
3. "Immigrant Stories" (one hour) A. Six (6) in-depth experiences (4 minutes each) of people and relationships that changed the image of the "other"
B. Live flute and oud music after stories 1, 3, and 5
C. Small groups of four people (10 minutes) to assimilate personal meaning for each participant after stories 2, 4, and 6.
4. Large group assimilation (about 30 minutes) Hear what each person in room -- participants and participants -- will take home with them.

creating shared space in multicultural meetings

Background:
In our complicated reality, there are many inter-cultural meetings. Often, there are great differences of culture, beliefs, world view, economic and social backgrounds among the participants, and often, too, they do not speak the same language. How can we change these apparent problems to possibilities for meeting each other, for learning about one's self and about the other? How can we discover what we have in common, the simple humanity that is within us?

The workshop:
In this experiential-learning workshop activities and methods will be offered that make it possible for us to find the common basis among all people, who ever they might be:
To be the child that is in us (our inner child) through play;
To be part of a group – through sharing goals;
To express our feelings and to be included – through a circle of listening and real listening;
To learn and to develop ourselves – through experience and sharing

General comments:
The exercises that we will practice in this workshop can be used by the participants in their work as group leaders and counselors;
The exercises create a space that takes into account the mores of the various religions and cultures regarding touch, mutual respect, interpersonal distance, and more;
These exercise are the fruit of 8 years of learning and development through meetings of multi-cultural and varied participants.

Participants are invited to come with open minds and hearts, and to be ready for the experience of an active workshop.

All the information is free, and can be used for any good purpose.

Elad VazanaGroup Dialogue and Social Action Facilitation
Educational Peace Program Development
Social Organization and Activist mpowerment